Sleek and simple solution

Emma Owrid hates building work. But after two years of living with the galley kitchen and dingy dining room of their three-storey, four-bedroom Wandsworth home, she and husband John knew they must bite the bullet.

The couple bought the Victorian semi-detached house in 1998 for £390,000, and one of its features is a delightful secluded garden, ideal for entertaining and as a play area for their two children, Jessica, nine, and Oliver, seven.

However, a further disadvantage of the downstairs layout was the poky back living-room bay window, which obscured the view of the garden. The Owrids called in local architect Tom Pike to create a single 400sq ft space out of their hotchpotch of rooms. Three walls came down, the living area was extended into the side alley, a structural glass roof was installed over the added space and the back wall was replaced with floor-to-ceiling, Japanesestyle, aluminium-framed glass doors.

The result is an intimate relationship between interior and exterior. The area to the rear of the kitchen now has a spectacular view of the garden and the glass roof reveals trees, sky and the occasional rainbow.

Every element of the design works to create maximum visual interest. The new side wall is relieved with glass bricks and a horizontally barred glass door, in continuity with the roof. The curve of the breakfast bar echoes the round steel column that helps support the whole structure and these curves are reiterated in the book shelves opposite, which conceal a vast storage cupboard and downstairs lavatory. Living, dining and cooking spaces are clearly defined, yet fluidly related.

The stunning scheme won Pike a nomination this year for the Architect's Journal's Small Projects Award.

THE CLIENTS

Emma, 40, is a financial analyst, John, 42, is an advertising director: "He's got more vision," she says. "I'm the financial controller." Pike's office was at the end of their road. "We were talking and talking about getting the work done, so one day I went in." She liked Pike immediately, enough not to bother shopping around, although she was careful to check out other projects he'd done.

The three started planning the scheme in June 2000; Emma, however, was ambivalent: "It was a lot of money and I thought the economy was going into recession. And I didn't want the disruption either, I thought it was going to be hell."

But in March 2001 the builders arrived, "and I knew there was no getting out of it." The design evolved with everyone contributing. John suggested the Japanese doors and the new wall's glass detail; Emma added the shelving and chose the kitchen's vibrant blue. "There was no difference of opinion. It was great, it just worked," she says. Pike's striking glass roof shocked the couple when they first saw it. "Tom always called it a flat glass roof, and we thought we'd have a little bit of glass, not the big struts. But actually we love it."

And, although cooking in the dust-filled temporary cellar kitchen (installed as part of the project) was just as horrendous as she'd imagined, she's full of praise for Pike's builder, Andy Brackstone, and his kitchen builder, Frank Tickle.

Emma kept tight control of the £100,000 budget: the key was costing everything beforehand. "If anything was changed, they had to come to me. Nothing could be allowed to slide. I couldn't have faced an extra £40,000 bill."

Now she agrees it was all worth it. "I like everything happening around me: I can cook, the kids can do their homework, we can all be together. It's actually as we wanted it. Tom was really good and we still get on." She grins: "I think he's longing to do the loft, but not now!"

THE ARCHITECT

The Pike Practice specialises in small domestic projects. "We try to give clients the boldest scheme for their budget," says Pike, "something interesting they'll enjoy over time. We like to deliver spaces that are minimalist in essence but allow people to put up a photograph, have Tonka toys in the corner of the room, live normal lives."

The boldest stroke in the Owrids' conversion was the structural glass roof. "If we'd done it conventionally with metal glazing bars, it would have been half the cost. But it does give the scheme its 'wow' factor."

Another key element was the space gained by extending into the alley. "It wasn't huge, but its effect was enormous, it made a big space where there wasn't one previously."

Creating interplay between the house and the garden was crucial. A happy relationship with clients, Pike believes, stimulates his best work. He enjoyed John's creative input and as for Emma's financial management: "She was very good, she knew where she was going. We had to keep on track in accordance with her spread sheets."

He's also very aware, in his role as site supervisor, that the whole team counts. If clients are living with major building work for several months - in this case having walls demolished and a lot of structural steelwork installed - a good builder is vital. He has worked regularly with Andy Brackstone, and the same is true of Frank Tickle, who built the kitchen to his design (Pike also designed the curvy shelf unit, built by Brackstone). "We try to minimise the risk," he says, "and make the process enjoyable for everybody."